Lost and found
by Yanna-chu
Summary: A fill for the tmnt kink meme. Basically a lot of Spike/Raphael fluff.
1. Chapter 1

_This is a story I wrote for a prompt at tmnt_kink_meme. Feel free to check it out as well._

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**Chapter 1 - Just another normal day**

It had started out as a completely ordinary day. Raphael woke up in his hammock to the sound of Mickey cooking in the kitchen like he did every other day. It was still early in the morning. Still an hour before their morning exercise would take place.

For a minute he contemplated staying in bed longer, but quickly decided not to. Raph went into the kitchen, ate breakfast and left for his room again with a plate of lettuce to let Spike have his early meal too.

When entering the room he regarded the tank on his shelf quietly and only spoke up when he saw slow movements. "Hey, there buddy." Black point eyes stared at him with the ever present bored expression. "Up early today?" The turtle slipped down into the water, swimming around in the spacious area.

With the flick of his finger, Raphael turned the UV-lamp on, casting light into the clear water. He watched his pet glide around and smiled to himself. After about five minutes of having his morning toilet Spike decided to crawl back onto the stone that peaked out above the water and bask in the false sun to warm back up.

"You hungry yet?" The little turtle looked up at him immediately. "I'll take that as a yes." With that he lifted him out of the terrarium and put him down on the floor next to the plate of lettuce before he settled down himself. He watched the little fella as he began to chew piece by piece of the leaf in his normal slow-poke pace.

Raphael began to talk to fill the silence, something he often did when he was alone with Spike. Before he got his pet turtle he already had the habit to talk to himself and it only worsened after picking up the terrapin.

After Spike finished his breakfast he was put back into the large tank and Raphael went to training, showing up slightly late which was punished right away. The training went on for hours with Master Splinter giving them little rest in between.

Raphael understood his father on a basic level. The Shredder was strong and all together a pretty bad guy, but he still believed they could pull through without exhausting themselves to the point of passing out like Mikey often did.

They finished up late at night and red-clad turtle went off to take a shower right away. After that he went into his room and fetched Spike. He set him down on the kitchen counter together with another plate of lettuce while fixing himself a sandwich; always paying attention so the little guy wouldn't fall off.

Afterwards he settled down on the couch in the living room, lying down with Spike on his plastron.

Mikey had passed out right after training so that Leo had to put him to bed. After that he went into his own room as well. Master Splinter was still in the dojo if the swaying light of the candles were any hint.

Donni was holed up in his lab already together with the ooze he was so set on studying further on for hours on end. He hoped to find some sort of cure for the mutation- or so he stated in many colorful words when asked- in order to turn Xever and Chris back into humans and make them less of a threat.

Whenever he showed up to grab another cup of black coffee he looked more and more frustrated with the alien technology he couldn't quite wrap his head around. Even April couldn't get him out of there. It was quite a sight to withhold.

Raph snapped out of his thoughts as Spike began to chew on his bandana. "Playful are we?" He raised one eye ridge at the little turtle. "Sorry. I'll have more time for you again soon." Then he added as an afterthought. "I hope."

The pet withdrew its head into its shell. Black eyes peaking up at Raph. "No, I will be okay, we'll all be." He smiled and stroked along the much smaller shell softly with one finger. The tiny head began to reappear.

Suddenly there was a loud crash and it pulled back again, staring up at his keeper with bright eyes.

"Donnie!" Raphael shouted, put down Spike and ran towards the lab.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 - Lost**

Raphael rushed over to the heavy lab door. His steps faltered just slightly upon the catching a glimpse at the occupants of the room.

There were at least a dozen foot ninjas inside it who had surrounded Donnie. His brother was backed up into a corner with his staff and the ooze container they managed to steal a few days back clutched close to him in a protective hold. Broken test tubes were scattered along the ground, smoke rising up from one of them.

"Some people just don't know how to knock." The turtle with the red bandana muttered while pulling out his sais from their respective place. He was thankful that he had put his belt back on after finishing his shower.

"We are here to retrieve what is ours." One of them stated in the regular foreign accent they all seemed to possess. The second youngest of the family began to twirl his weapon in his hand, grinning with the thrill of an upcoming fight.

The tension built slowly. The staring contest continued until Leo and Micky barged into the room, weapons at the ready. "Finder's Keeper's, dude." Nunchuks spun while sharp swords glinted softly in the dim lightening.

When the enemy neared Donatello, he threw the ooze into the general direction of his brothers with a loud declaration of 'Catch'. As soon as the charge was off his hands, the violet-clad moved into his fighting stance.

The leader struggled but somehow managed to catch the container none the less. He tugged it into the back of his belt safely and backed up into the living room slowly.

The laboratory was an enclosed area. Swords as well as the bo would be hard to use in a fight here, so it was a reasonable decision.

The foot ninjas followed him after seconds.

The turtles were at an advantage at their home, a peak they didn't enjoy often. They knew the surroundings and made good use of that, beating one enemy after the other while jumping up onto platforms and kicking off of walls.

Leonardo was up on the second level, when they crowded him. He was the one holding what they were supposed to get after all. While one advanced from the front, another sneaked up behind him. His twin swords slashed the one at his backside while his left leg came up to kick the frontal attacker hard into the stomach.

The stabbed enemy managed to grab onto the ooze, but instead of passing it on to his comrades he threw it into the air, possibly too injured to even think straight. The later of the two stumbled back with a shocking amount of lacking grace and managed to fall over the metal railing.

As the vial of ooze and the ninja fell, time seemed to slow down. Micky ran for the wanted item, but he came up short. It shattered upon impact. At the same time the opponent crashed into the couch, knocking it over onto the glass side table with a startling blatant crash.

There was a moment of thick silence in which nobody moved. Raphael swore he even stopped breathing, his grip on his sais loosening.

He had left Spike on the couch when the fight started. The teenager snapped out of it and when he did his movements became aggressive to the point of deadly. The sudden change in fighting style shocked his current opponent so that he merely dodged a stab right to his heart. Raphael pulled his weapon out of the shoulder with a low growl and was very close to attacking again when the door to the dojo was slammed open.

"What is this ruckus-" The rodent stopped dead upon the scene in front of him. The blank expression changing into one of rage when he realized that the Shredder didn't only want to kill his students every time they surfaced, but also when they were at home where they were supposed to be safe.

Fighting together as a united family brought along their victory rather fast. The enemies made their soundless escape with hung heads and once again the lair fell silent.

"How did they get in here?" Leonardo asked in a tone that signaled that he was exhausted beyond his limits but still on edge.

"Through the ventilation system." The laboratory was the only room that was connected to one of the upper tunnels. They had installed it shortly after moving into the lair since Donnie often experimented with various chemicals with toxic properties. If not for the ventilation he would have suffocated some time ago.

Splinter spoke up softly after that. "We will take care of that problem first thing in the morning."

"I'm sorry, Master. I should have considered the possibility of invading through it sooner." The turtle with the violet bandana bowed his head in shame, his hands fiddling with the strip of cloth wrapped around his staff for better grip.

The furry hand of their father touched his shoulder soothingly. "It's alright, my son. Mistakes are necessary gain experience." It was just another one of those wise phrases Raph didn't care to wrap his head around most of the time.

"Where there here for 'mom'?" Micky asked innocently after an appropriate amount of time passed.

"How many times to I have to tell you? That's not our mot-" The leader of the family stopped short upon seeing his second youngest brother crawling around their fallen couch, bowed down to be able to gaze into every nook and cranny.

"Did he loose one of his contacts?" The youngest tried to lighten the mood, but grew worried himself when there was no response; neither verbal nor violent.

When the mutated turtle stood up and his gaze hardened noticeably. Then all of a sudden Raphael was hefting up the heavy furniture without much of an effort, his eyes never leaving the wreckage that once was their side table. It was reduced to large shards of glass and wood splitters.

With bare hands he began to shift through none to gently.

"Are you crazy?!" Leonardo shouted and tried to pull him away by the shoulder. His hand was shrugged off quickly. He was about to grab him forcefully to make him stop, but the crazed look in light green eyes made him reconsider. "Raph…?"

When the searching motion became more hectic, he began to mumble to himself lowly under his breath. "Come on little guy, it's not the time to play hide and seek now…" A piece of glass cut through the fleshy part of his palm, blood pouring forth immediantly. "Tell you what, if you come out now I'll even give you a midnight snack." His blood dripped onto the carpet.

He cleared the entire pile in no time, throwing rumble over his shoulders carelessly. Suddenly Raphael was on his feet again gazing throughout the room, at the same time listening to any sounds that may be able to give away his little companions position.

His vision zeroed in on the puddle of bright green goo that was slowly spreading across their living room floor.

"Spike…?"

Raphael swore that his voice didn't crack up. It didn't on that day. Neither on the several weeks following after, when he returned from his search in the sewers without finding anything and he certainly didn't break down crying when he emptied the tank in his room two month after Spike's disappearance.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 - Searching**

The memory of the day his pet turtle disappeared is clear and painful in his mind even after an entire year passed. He never stopped to believe that Spike might have died since even after going through the pile again, the only blood he had found had been his own.

The mutated turtle spend more time out in the sewers than he did to sleep at night and after several weeks it began to take a tool on him. If it wasn't for the intervention of his family he would probably still be roaming the tunnel system searching for his companion in this very moment.

Instead he's lying in his slowly swinging hammock. Spike had been very important to him, more than the abused and thrown away animal he had been when he found him by far.

Raphael could still remember the day he found the little turtle in the sewer tunnels. It had been one of those times that being closed in at home with his brothers had become too much to bear once again.

He barely remembered in the haste, in which he stormed off that he had said something awful to Donatello about one of his inventions. His genius brother had gotten angry at him for it. It had registered way too late what he had blabbered out and with him there was just no taking back what he says once it's out in the open, so instead of worsening the whole thing he fled.

The guy just didn't know when to give him a break though since he had chased him for a good few minutes. When he had finally lost him, he was in a part of the sewer system that didn't seem all too familiar.

Minutes passed with the ninja stomping around angrily until he finally stopped to lean against the stone wall and breathe deeply.

The curses flew from his mouth almost automatically since he had been so damn upset with himself.

Why did he have to be such a freaking asshole all the time? Donnie hadn't deserved it, but their training had gotten more and more intense at that period time. The ugly thought that he couldn't keep up with his master's expectations had crept up on him and when Donnie was complimented on his great work he had blown.

It had always been hard to control his own temper and he hated himself for that, Raphael still does in fact although he's slowly getting better.

That time he had been close to tears he remembers bitterly. His fist had slammed against the stone hard, knuckle cracking, but it had been okay since pain always helped with his moods. Then he heard it for the first time. Raphael had stopped breathing and just _listened_.

He heard it again somewhere down in the tunnels; a soft rustling sound like something crawling around in the garbage. Ignoring his better judgment he had rounded the nearest corner and looked around. The shuffling had grown louder with every cautious step until he saw the cause of it all.

He bend down to take a closer look and that was the point in time when he saw Spike for the very first time. On the floor of the dirty sewer tunnel was a small turtle- a simple turtle, nothing like him and his brothers- and it was moving around on an old newspaper.

The little thing was in a terrible condition. Its carapace was discolored, a sure sight for illness or infection. As far as he could guess it lacked necessary nutrients.

Then he noticed the cracked shell. The side of the pet turtle was almost exposed. The wound looked nasty like someone tried to remove it forcefully and he winced in sympathy. It looked like it was ready to die any minute.

Slowly he reached out with one giant green hand, but didn't touch it just yet. The little thing matched his gaze with a tired one and he took it as a sight that it was okay to go on, so he scooped the terrapin up as carefully as he could managed and took off down the tunnels in the direction of their home.

After a few minutes he couldn't feel any movements in his opened palms so he sped along further knocking the door into the wall loudly upon his hasty arrival.

"Already back from sulking?" Leonardo's snide remark whizzed right past him in his frenzy. He walked straight into the kitchen where Donnie had been busy with whatever the hell he had been doing.

"Fix him." His voice had sounded rough even to his own ears, foreign in a way.

"What do you think you are-" The pissed off look on Donatello's face had faded quickly when he noticed what he's been holding in his shaky hands.

"I'm sorry okay? Just fix him. Please." It was the first and probably the last time he ever heard the hothead apologize, so he did what he had to.

Donnie had fixed him.

The bandages had to stay around the fragile shell a few weeks and every once in a while he had to apply oil to help the process along.

Raphael still remembers how worried he was when the little guy didn't eat in the beginning until he went topside to find lettuce. The smile it put on his face when Spike chewed on the vegetable is also something that doesn't leave his thought.

His brothers had teased him for being so remarkably caring with his pet, but that's also something they never dare to bring up anymore.

Since he was young he had possessed the habit of talking to himself. With Spike around it didn't seem as much of an embarrassment anymore, since there was actually someone listening to his ramblings.

It had been the first time that he had formed a bond with anyone but his family.

The first time he got the feeling that it was alright to open up with another being around him to hear his darkest fears and secrets. The little turtle had been his first friend, someone that let him talk about all the things he didn't want to talk with anyone else about.

Spike had been something like a lifeline.

There's no such thing anymore now.

The worries he has stay with him in the darkness of his room at night when he lies awake at night remembering what it was like to have a companion for once.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 - Found**

Somewhere in the back of his mind he never really believed that Spike was dead. It's something he doesn't even feel comfortable thinking about.

So when rumors about another mutated turtle rise around the streets, Raphael can't deny the tiny bit of hope crawling up inside of him.

He keeps it around as Donatello tells them how unlikely the chances of another one like them are and in the same city to top it off. It sparks inside him when Micky starts to imagine tales based on the stranger and he sure doesn't let it down when Leonardo makes fun of their youngest brother.

Soon there's words out that the mysterious mutant is working for the Shredder and just like that all the hope is snuffed out. There's just no way that his former pet would ever work for some bad guy like that.

Maybe it's time to finally come clean with the fact that his friend is indeed dead and not coming back. The days get darker for Raphael. He spends the day letting out his frustration on his punching bag and the night thinking back like some old chump.

One night the four of them are out patrolling. They're drawn to a warehouse with several big black vans parked in front of the broken entrance suspiciously and upon entering all of them freeze in their tracks.

The rumored turtle is there. It's slightly bigger than him and his brothers, his skin a light brown color, while the carapace is green and jagged. Wrapped around the head is a darkish headband and his knees and elbows are protected by thick leather. One hand holds onto a sword, while the other is equipped with a sick mimic of the very claws the Shredder possesses.

The other growls at them then charges. They manage to dodge easily and he runs into the wall head on. Inside the warehouse are a few purple dragons snatching up electronics. They look at the turtles with something akin of fear in their eyes.

His brothers begin to battle the gang members, while Raphael is still standing in the same spot he did minutes ago, staring at the crumbled form of the newest addition to Shredder's personal army.

"Where does Shredder get all these ugly mutants anyways?" Mikey laughs at his own joke before even finishing it. "The internet?"

"Damnit, Micky! Can't you be serious for just a second!?" Donatello growls at him and hits the youngster over the head with his staff.

"Could you keep your head in the game guys?!" The command barked out by Leonardo gets the two of them back in line without arguing.

The sound of the ongoing battle keeps raging on behind him. The red-clad doesn't think about the possibility of someone stabbing him into the back, while he isn't looking. He doesn't even consider helping out his brothers.

All he can do is keep all his attention on the crumbled enemy before him who stares back up at him angrily. He tells himself to stop this nonsense right now, to not let the bubble of hope surface just to pop again, but he can't help it.

The eyes of the other mutant turtle, the very pattern on his shell and even the slightly lethargic movements seem so terrible familiar. The scar on the side of his shell is a straight-forward slap in the face.

"Spike?" Without thinking about it he moves closer to the other, suddenly feeling like he should help his long-lost friend up right away. He outstretches his hand in invitation.

Raphael is not prepared for the heavy pull on his wrist and the slam of another body on top of his as he is pinned to the floor. Slash looks down at him angrily, the claws right at his throat. His legs are immobilized, his arms put in a strong hold and the teenager feels the rise of panic in the pit of his stomach.

"Don't you remember me?" The growl ripping from the other's mouth makes him shiver inwardly. The sharp blade nicks his neck, but he knows better than trying to retract it back into his shell along with his head.

"It's me. Raphael." Something like recognition flashes across Slash's face, the corners of his beak tilting down just the slightest bit, but it's lost again after a second. Raph isn't even sure if he saw it.

"Remember that one time when we snuck out of the sewers together so I could show you the topside world?" There's a distinct feeling that he has to keep talking to get through to his attacker.

"The time I took you into the bath tub with me?" His voice is wavering as the knife presses in a little harder. "Heck, all those times I bathed you because your shell wasn't supposed to get wet again just then?" The pressure is gone for a moment and then his head is slammed into the wall behind him with the force of a huge hand wrapped around his neck.

"Come on Spike…It's me, Raph." The hand around his neck tightens and then Slash leans into the other turtle, bringing sharp teeth dangerously close to the other's neck. Raphael's not moving away in any way. This is probably the only chance he will even get to try to talk some sense into the other.

"You gotta remember…" The words are rushed and desperate. Green eyes are tearing up from the lack of oxygen. The other mutant stares down at him with black eyes.

Hot breath flows over his face suddenly, but he doesn't dare to close his eyes. A soft tremble runs through his body, but he ignores it in favor of watching Slash intently.

It's a sight to withhold when Micky finally finds Raphael. He is pressed up against the floor with giant turtle choking his neck, a small trail of blood trailing down.

"Raph!" Three pairs of footsteps close in on their location and the grip around his neck tightens again when Leonardo presses his sword into Slash's back. "Let go of him at once."

"Don't!" The red-clad manages to wince out. The grip around his hands loose enough that he manages to slip them out and bring them down around Spike's shoulders, hugging him closer.

"It's gonna be okay." His voice is soft but at the same time rough with emotions.

Leo finally drops his weapon as the rough beak is nuzzling against his brother's emerald cheek lovingly. "'Atta boy."

When Spike begins to chomp down on his red bandana he can't stop the rough chuckle from escaping.


End file.
